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Shantyboat for two.

Helloeveryone

I am building a shantyboat for two.
Length is 40 feet.
Width is 12 feet.
Displacement is about 12000 pounds.
Hull construction is simple marine plywood / stringers / frame , epoxy /glass .
Cabin construction is mainly 2x2 treated pine / plywood / canvas skin set with titebond III / painted work boat finish . Rigid foam insulation infill to frames. Metal sheet roofing.
I have many pictures , so if anyone is interested and would like to follow along , I can post photos and comment in chronological order. Let me know.
I am in a relatively remote location , and internet access ( wifi ) can be unreliable , some days impossible, so if you dont see updates it`s the most likely reason.

Re: Shantyboat for two.

Love it. I'm officially requesting interior shots as well as any you have of the cabin construction.

I'm curious about the headroom. How much do you have? I think this type of catamaran or deck over pontoons construction makes a lot of sense, but have worried about the structure becoming top-heavy. Yours looks great.

"A man builds the best of himself into a boat- builds many of the memories of his ancestors." -Steinbeck

Re: Shantyboat for two.

Hello again everybody.
I would like to thank everyone for the kind comments and interest.

As this is the very beginning of this thread , it seems appropriate to
briefly explain how and where this little craft will actually be used.

The Murray river is Australia`s largest ( and ) longest river.It spans 1565 miles across three states - Victoria , New South Wales , and South AustraliaIt is also the third longest navigable river in the world, after the Amazon and Nile .
In South Australia , where this little boat will be based , the river is usually quite sedate with no fast or furious currents. Here is a typical photo .

So , it can be seen that this boat will not need to deal with much more than the occasional ski boat wakes.
The boat is being built about 6 miles from this little town.

Re: Shantyboat for two.

Awesome build, love it! I also love that picture of Mannum, I always thought that'd be a nice place to live.
Ever since we got the DVD of "two men in a tinny" I have wanted to build a boat and cruise the Murray, a friend of mine is planning a trip in his mini tug around the time of the Goolwa wooden boat festival and I'm very jealous.

Re: Shantyboat for two.

ijanny : Thank you .I put the bathtub in to give some scale to the photo.
It will act mainly as a shower tray later.

jsjpd1 : Thank you for your comment.

mermod : Thank you also for your comments.
Two men in a tinny was a great show.

Mike : I am thinking Yamaha or Honda 40 - 50 hp 4 stroke outboard .
At 12 inches draft the boat should displace about 1200 pounds. But....you never end up " light " , in my experience
its more likely to be overweight.

PeterSibley: I actually looked at that Atkin boat , but in the end decided I wanted a little more beam than "Lady of the Lake". Also , after last years horrendous summer heatwaves here I`m glad to dispense with a big ,
hot boiler and steam.Something nice about steam all the same , and talking of steamers , this was tied up at Haythorn Park near the ferry last week :

That`s Alexandria quite a well known boat here on the river . She stayed tied up here for over a week before moving up stream.

Here are some more construction photos of the hull module framing :

Laying fillets on bow module:

8:1 scarfs on planking :

All taping on corners and joints is heavy biax .
I carefully dragged the section outside to avoid making too much dust.

Re: Shantyboat for two.

Nice project. When I read your first post I was going to say we have a lot of boats around here similar to that which we call houseboats. Then I saw you are from round here! Interested to know why you chose ply instead of the usual steel tubes for hulls?

Re: Shantyboat for two.

Originally Posted by Phil Y

Nice project. When I read your first post I was going to say we have a lot of boats around here similar to that which we call houseboats. Then I saw you are from round here! Interested to know why you chose ply instead of the usual steel tubes for hulls?

Thank you for your comments, and you do raise some good points Phil.

Australians would most likely call this little project a houseboat.
Americans would most likely call it a shantyboat.

I don`t actually think of it as either .

When I think of the australian term houseboat , I think lightweight foam insulated panels ( cool room panels or sips ) mounted on steel or alloy floats or tubes . That makes me think floating Esky.( For all of you in the US , an Esky is what you would call a Cooler )

I called it a shantyboat because I think most people would identify with the spirit of what a shantyboat actually is , or stands for : freedom , cozy , small , not flash or yachty , unpretentious , comfortable.

Personally, I think of it as a floating cabin.

As far as pontoon construction , I set out to build from scratch , so steel was not considered for long because it would have meant tooling up for steel ; obtain welders , grinders , gantries ,oxy / plasma cutter , etc, etc. I also find steel noisy , dirty , heavy and dangerous to work with. I like wood .

Re: Shantyboat for two.

Here I have some photos of the glassed and sanded hull sections being assembled into two 40 ft long and ( hopefully )
straight canoe hulls :Some sections were painted at this stage , but not all , so it looks a little " patchy ".

The sections were aligned with a string line and a water level , I rolled the sections on some galv water pipe over some 2x4s and using 2x4 as a lever.

The insides of the hull sections were treated with copper napthenate 6 weeks prior to allow it to soak well into the plywood.
Then it was painted with three coats of drybond liquid flash ( brush on fiber reinforced waterproof membrane used for sealing shower alcoves , wet areas and water proofing balconies.)